


One Fateful Night

by startabby



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M, M/M, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6999055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startabby/pseuds/startabby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Was it destiny that led to James and Lily being the prophecy parents, Severus the spy, Sirius the betrayed, Peter the betrayer and Remus the observer or could a single event change the course of their lives? What would happen if the roles were shifted while the characters themselves remained the same thanks to one fateful night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introducing Harry Prince

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve taken some liberties with the ages of supporting characters to make them better fit my narrative, but the main six are all the same year in school. For those who care about such things, this is most definitely an AU.

****In the sheaf of parallel universes, there are many worlds where the adventures of Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived, are the stuff of history and legend. But our tale today is not of one of these worlds.  


Our story does begin, just as Harry Potter’s does, in a house on Privet Drive, where Mrs. Petunia Dursley opens the door to find a baby in a basket on her front porch. This baby, however, is not named Potter; rather he holds the moniker of Prince.  


To understand the source of this change, we have to go back to where the worlds diverged in one eventful evening.

* * *

 

 


	2. The Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was it destiny that led to James and Lily being the prophecy parents, Severus the spy, Sirius the betrayed, Peter the betrayer and Remus the observer or could a single event change the course of their lives? What would happen if the roles were shifted while the characters themselves remained the same thanks to one fateful night.

It is April in the year 1975 at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew are 5th year Gryffindors. The best of friends, they are collectively known around school as the Marauders, the glorious pranksters of Hogwarts.

In the same school year are Severus Snape, 5th year Slytherin, and his best friend Lily Evans, 5th year Gryffindor. Lily, a fiery redhead, attracted the attention of James when they first arrived at Hogwarts and he declared that he would marry her while they were waiting to be sorted. Severus and Lily were not impressed, and Severus jinxed him for bothering his friend. From that day forward, war was declared and Severus became the most frequent pranking target for James and his friends.

Severus gave as good as he got, and with Lily’s help the battles between the groups grew epic as the years went on. Unfortunately, this meant the level of hostility also increased and by 5th year the boys considered themselves to be bitter enemies. Meanwhile, Severus’ relationship with Lily had begun to grow tense due to pressure from a group of Slytherin purebloods. These children’s families were part of a group that believed in pureblood supremacy, as espoused by their political leader. This leader, known to the wizarding world as Lord Voldemort, espoused the idea of further separation between the Wizarding world and the Muggle one.

In Slytherin house, many of the children that came from families that agreed with Voldemort’s principles were pressuring all of their classmates to stay away from the ‘filthy mudbloods’ who contaminated the Wizarding world with Muggle ideas. As a Muggleborn student, Lily fit this category so Severus was being pushed by his dorm-mates to terminate his friendship. At the same time, puberty had hit with a vengeance and Severus’ especially had begun to feel things about Lily that he had never experienced before.

Then came the night when everything came to a head. Lily and Severus had been studying in the library the day before, planning their cram schedules in preparation for the O.W.L.s that they’d be taking in a couple of months. The Marauders had come in to play a prank on Severus, but were caught by Madam Pince and assigned a week of detention.

Sirius, who was especially pissed about detention as it interfered with a date he had scheduled for later in the week, was walking through the halls with some of the other Gryffindors when he noticed Severus coming towards them. That gave him an idea.  

“Remus is so lucky to get out of detention tonight,” he commented, loud enough that Severus would overhear, “McGonagall gave him permission to skip.”

“He got permission to do what?” Severus fumed, as Sirius and his friends laughed.

“Yeah, Snivellus, you’d know why he gets to skip if you weren’t such a coward,”

Now, it was well known throughout Hogwarts campus that Remus Lupin had a chronic illness. However, no one really knew exactly what that illness was, except for his friends and the staff. It was the running challenge in Slytherin to identify Remus’ illness. Severus had gotten closest when he saw Madame Pomfrey walking Remus out to the Whomping Willow. He had only stopped following them because he was worried about getting caught by the staff for being out after curfew.

Severus, as Sirius had intended, was determined to solve the mystery and he figured that the best way to find out was to follow Remus that night. Now, what Severus didn’t know was that Remus’ illness was lycanthropy. While that was one of the possibilities bandied about the Slytherin dorms, over the past five years, the staff and Remus had carefully added extra ‘personal’ days to make sure that Remus wasn’t just absent on full moons. On this particular night, however, there was a full moon and Remus was going a safe place to transform. You see, there was a tunnel that led from the Whomping Willow to a building known as the Shrieking Shack. This building had been modified by the Hogwarts staff to be a werewolf cage, which was necessary as when transformed by the full moon werewolves attack any humans they encounter.

By the time Severus made it past the Whomping Willow, down the tunnel, and into the Shrieking Shack, the moon had nearly risen above the horizon. Severus crept through the halls of the shack until he reached the room where Remus lay, already stripped down to his pants in preparation for the change.

“Snape, what are you doing here?!” Remus exclaimed.

“I could ask you the same thing, Lupin.”

“You can’t be here, I’m about to…” and Remus’ body began to bow and contort in rictus shapes as he cried out in pain. At first, Severus came close, thinking Remus needed help, but his misapprehension was corrected when he heard,

“Werewolf...run…,” between cries of pain.

In his panic Severus ran out of the room via a door that led away from the tunnel entrance. He soon found himself trapped with an angry werewolf between him and the only exit.  Frantically, he yelled, “Bombarda… Bombarda…,” until he cleared enough of an opening in the wall to squeeze through to the outside. From there he took off running, making for the tree-line in the hopes of finding something to climb. Severus managed to scramble up into a tree, with the wolf right on his tail.

The wolf had expanded and broken through the opening in the wall of the shack that Severus started with his spellcasting. Moony, as Remus’ wolf was known, didn’t have the full mental capacity of a human mind. However, some of Remus’ frustration with Severus’ presence prior to the moonrise had carried through into the werewolf’s mind post-transformation. This made him even more aggressive than normal.

\---

Back in Gryffindor tower, James and Peter were in their dorm room reading a Quidditch magazine and Arithmancy journal respectively when Sirius poked his head in and grinned at them.

“It’s a good thing we’re not running with Moony tonight,” he said with a laugh, “I just saw Snivellus creeping after him towards the Whomping Willow.”

“What?”

“Who knew planting a bug in his ear this afternoon would bear such fruit…,” Sirius laughed, and then headed down to the Gryffindor common room to play exploding snap with some of the younger students.  As he left, James and Peter just looked at each other in horror.

“If Remus kills Snape, or even bites him, Remus could be arrested or ‘put down’ by the Ministry,” Peter gasped, as James agreed.

The two quickly put their shoes and cloaks on and shut their bed curtains so no one would realize that they were out of the room during bed check. Then they ducked under James’ invisibility cloak and slowly made their way out of the castle, watching out for staff as they had learned to do during their many night pranks in the past.

“I wish the map was done,” Peter huffed, as they ducked into a nook to keep out of Flitwick’s way.

“Me, too,” James agreed, “keep moving, we’re almost to the front door.”

Eventually they made it out to the grounds, just in time to see the moon rise above the horizon.

“Hurry up and transform,” James yelled to Peter, as he ran towards the willow. Peter shifted into his rat form and then scampered between the branches to push the knot in the tree trunk. James ran by the rat as he sped towards the entrance to the tunnel, picking up Peter along the way. “Lumos,” he called as he ran, illuminating their path. He heard a howl in the distance, and tried to run even faster.

When he reached the end of the tunnel, he pushed Peter, still in rat form, towards the hole in the door.

“Check to see if it’s safe for me to come through in human form.”

Peter ran through, and soon after, James heard him call, “come through, quick, both of them are outside!"

James plowed through the trapdoor and followed Peter’s call to where a huge gap in the wall marked Moony’s exit. He transformed into Prongs, his stag form, extorting Peter to change back into Wormtail at the same time. Wormtail scampered onto Prongs’ back, and the two followed Moony’s howls to where he had treed Severus.

Wormtail jumped off, and climbed up the tree to where Severus crouched, while Prongs convinced Moony to chase him away from the tree. Severus started, as Wormtail transformed into an out of breath Peter.

“Are you okay,” he gasped at Severus,

“Lupin’s a werewolf, and you’re a rat, what do you think?”

“Listen, you can get mad later, right now James and I need your help.”

“Huh,”

“James… he’s the stag.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“Look, we have to keep Remus away from populated areas like Hogsmeade so he doesn’t bite anyone.”

“And just how are WE supposed to do that?”

“Simple, we play magical keep-away,”

That was easier said than done, but the three boys managed to use a combination of spells, animagus transformations, and straight up running to keep Moony penned in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest and away from any people.

Finally the moon set and the wolf lay down, shifting into a groaning Remus. Peter, James and Severus collapsed around him.

“Snape!” Remus gasped,

“I’m okay, you didn’t bite me,” Severus replied.

“Did I get anyone else?”

“No, we kept Moony busy all night,”

“Are the three of you okay?”

“Yeah, just scratched up a bit and tired from keeping you occupied.”

After a moment, Severus turned to Remus,

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell everyone your secret,” he drawled tiredly, “if I did, who would challenge me in Defense, these two bozos?”

“Besides, I actually had fun tonight,” when the other three stared at him, he continued, “I mean, not at first, but playing keep away was really good practice for the O.W.L.s.” They all laughed hysterically, a little punch-drunk with exhaustion and relief.

“How do you think we got so good at thinking on our feet,” James replied, grinning at him.

They were sitting together, within view of the new ‘entrance’ to the Shrieking Shack, trying to recover enough to walk back to the castle, when they saw Dumbledore come running out the entrance. He was closely followed by Alastor Moody, who the boys knew as a friend of Dumbledore who sometimes was seen joining him for dinner. Moody had also come in to guest lecture for Defense Against the Dark Arts a few times, so the boys were aware of his status as an Auror.

When Dumbledore saw the boys, you could see the relief come across his face, and he slowed his run to a brisk walk as he made his way over to them.

“My boys, thank Merlin I found you, are you all okay?”

“Yes, Professor,” they said in a raggedy chorus, “just tired,” and he sagged almost imperceptibly.

It turned out that Dumbledore had just had a rather disturbing hour. Several of the residents of Hogsmeade had floo called the Ministry with complaints of flashing lights and howls coming from the Forbidden Forest during the night and as an Auror, Moody had been dispatched by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to investigate the situation. Thanks to his longstanding friendship with Dumbledore and experience as an Auror, Moody had been made aware of Remus’ existence at Hogwarts and had even helped set up the Shrieking Shack when the boy had first started classes.

Before Moody headed out to Hogsmeade, he decided to first floo call Dumbledore to see if he knew anything about the situation. Dumbledore, while expecting howls from the shack, was concerned when he learned the extent of the complaint. He told Moody that he would call him back shortly, then Dumbledore woke Professor McGonagall and they headed up to the Gryffindor dorm to see if Remus’ friends had any idea what was going on. When they reached the boys dorm, they pushed back the curtains to find only Sirius present in the room.

Waking him up, Dumbledore and McGonagall learned that Sirius had last seen Peter and James early the night before and that Sirius had basically dared Severus to go after Remus. “You stupid boy,” muttered McGonagall as she escorted him to her office to wait.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore woke Professor Slughorn so they could go into the Slytherin dorms. There they discovered that Severus was also missing and no one had seen him since the night before either. Now frantic, and certain of disaster, he floo called Moody to come over in case clean-up was needed. Slughorn waited in the Headmaster’s office while Dumbledore and Moody headed out to the Shrieking Shack, where they found the boys.

Just as with Dumbledore, Moody had feared the worst in the run out to the Shack. Now that he knew the boys were okay, his Auror instincts came back into play.

“All right boys, is there anyone else that needs to be attended to out here?”

“No sir,”

“Right, then, back to Hogwarts lads,”

The four exhausted boys stumbled to their feet, and they all walked back to Hogwarts together.

 


	3. The Aftermath

Once inside Hogwarts, Dumbledore led the way directly to his office, where Professors McGonagall and Slughorn were waiting.  
“All right lads, let’s start at the beginning.”

“Well…,”

“Well…,” James and Severus began to talk over one another.

“Hold on, let’s work our way backwards instead. Now, Albus and I found the four of you collapsed in the forest. I assume you’ve been up all night?”

“Yes sir, James, Peter and Snape kept my wolf from heading into Hogsmeade or up to the castle.”

“And how did you manage that?”

“Um… we spread out and cast spells to get Remus’ wolf to chase each of us in turn.”

“That was very dangerous, how did you keep from getting bit?”

“You see Peter and Sirius and I have been working on that very issue and…,” the boys looked at each other.

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake, just show them, already,” Severus groaned.

And James and Peter did just that, to the astonishment of the adults.

“A full animagus transformation,” said McGonagall, startled, “how did you manage that?”

“We’ve been trying to learn since we found out that werewolves don’t attack animagi. James found a book in the Potter library that explained the process and led us through it.”

“Very impressive boys,” said Moody.

“But Mr. Snape, clearly you don’t have an animagus form, how did you get mixed up in this?”

And the rest of the story just spilled out, despite some fits and starts where James and Peter tried not to blame Sirius and Severus tried not to admit that he was so easily led to foolishness. But there was no denying that Sirius had deliberately endangered the life of another student and jeopardized Remus future for a petty complaint.  
“Thank you for your honesty boys. Now Mr. Potter, Mr. Pettigrew, and Mr. Snape, as you were all out of bed past curfew you will have to serve detention. I’ll leave it up to your heads of house decide how and when you should serve it.”

“Of course, I know I don’t need to tell most of you this, but you cannot tell anyone else what happened here tonight. Mr. Lupin’s future depends on keeping his status a secret.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I already promised Lupin that I wouldn’t tell.”

“Now, I want you to have Madame Pomfrey take a look at you to make sure none of you sustained any permanent damage during all the excitement of the night. Professor Slughorn, will you take them up?”

“Of course, Headmaster…. Alastor,”

“Minerva, now we need to speak to Mr. Black, can you fetch him?”

“Yes Albus, I’ll get him from my office.”

And with that, Dumbledore and Moody were left alone in his office.

“What do you want me to say to the Ministry?”

“Hmm… report that some of the students decided that tonight was a good night to test their practical spellcasting.”

“What about the howls?”

“Oh, that’s just the Shrieking Shack,” they both chuckled.

“And how about young Mr. Black?”

“That is the trouble. I don’t think I can let him off lightly like the other four. Their mistakes were minor and their work tonight was nearly punishment enough, but his actions could have had serious consequences.”

“If I may make a suggestion, it’s almost the end of term, how about a suspension?”

“Indeed, thank you Alastor,”

“I’m just glad the lads are all okay, this could have gone a lot worse,” and with that Moody took a handful of powder from the jar, tossing it into the fireplace. “Ministry of Magic,” and with a whoosh, he was gone.

“And now to face the beast,” Dumbledore muttered, taking a handful of floo powder, “Black residence.”

Kreacher answered the floo.

“What does the Headmaster, sir, want with Master or Mistress?”

“Please inform your Master that there has been an incident at Hogwarts with his son Sirius. Please ask him to call me back to discuss young Mr. Black’s punishment as soon as he is available.”

“Of course, sir,” said Kreacher, “nasty, stupid boy got himself in trouble again…” he muttered as he turned away from the floo and disappeared from sight.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in, Minerva.” Professor McGonagall entered with a bewildered Sirius at her side. All he knew was that his friends were missing from the dorms, and something had happened with Snivellus.

“Now, my boy, I’m very disappointed in you. If it weren’t for the clever actions of your friends, one or more people could have been badly hurt or killed. As it is, I had to deal with the Ministry this morning and Mr. Lupin’s status as a werewolf was almost compromised. Did you even stop to think before you acted?”

“No, sir,” Sirius admitted, startled.

“Now, I will be speaking to your parents later today to decide your exact punishment. Keep in mind that if Mr. Snape had been killed or bitten, you would be in the cells of the Ministry and poor Mr. Lupin would be in on his way to Azkaban.”

“Yes, sir,” Sirius blanched.

“I need not tell you that you may not speak of this to anyone, not even your friends. I will have Professor McGonagall fetch you later today once I have spoken with your parents.”

With that, Sirius left the Headmaster’s office. His mind was racing as he tried to figure out what had happened. Clearly, Snivellus had encountered Remus, but then what? How had the prat managed to escape? And what about James and Peter, how were they involved? And what did the Headmaster mean about Azkaban?

\---

At breakfast, rumors were flying up and down the Great Hall. The Headmaster had shown up in both Gryffindor and Slytherin dorms early in the morning and the Marauders and Snape were involved. Sirius showed up to breakfast, but was sitting by himself and wouldn’t talk to anyone. He just said that the Headmaster told him not to say anything. Rumors spread that the boys had gotten into a duel and one or more of them was badly injured or dead. Bets were going around as to who was in what shape.

Meanwhile, Lily decided that she needed to get to the bottom of this. She headed straight for the infirmary, as her most likely source of information. As she approached the door, she heard James say,

“…when Moony ran at you, Snape, I was sure I had to jump in, but no, that spell was brilliant!”

“Why thank you, Potter, it’s a combination I developed based on last month’s work in Defense and Charms.”

“I’m starting to understand why Remus here is the only one who can keep up with you in classes.”

“Oh, but Pettigrew, I never knew you had that kind of subtlety in your casting. How did you manage…?”

“Now, gentlemen, you have come close to exhausting your physical strength and magical cores, you need to sleep.”

“Yes, Madame,”

“Oh, and Miss Evans, you may as well come in and see for yourself that Mr. Snape here is all right.”

Lily filed sheepishly in, looking towards Remus and Severus’ usual beds as she’d visited them both in the infirmary before, and noticing James and Peter next to them. All four boys looked exhausted and scraped up, but otherwise undamaged.

“Are you really all right, Sev?”

“Of course, Lily, I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

And with that, he yawned and before her eyes, all four of them seemed to go abruptly from awake into a sound sleep.

“They really did overdo it, but they’ll be perfectly fine after some sleep. Now off you go.”


	4. Enter the Blacks

At lunch time, the Great Hall was once again awash with rumors, as it became known that Potter, Pettigrew, Lupin and Snape were all in the infirmary with magical exhaustion. Sirius, who had been sitting in a funk all morning trying and failing to work on homework, was slumped down at the table trying to hide from all the staring eyes.

Suddenly, a forbidding voice came through the entranceway.

“Now, where is that bothersome boy…,” a stern looking woman in dark robes strode into the hall. Whispers at the Slytherin table revealed that it was Walburga Black, mother of Sirius and his 4th year Slytherin brother Regulus. Like both her sons, Walburga had the pale skin and black hair that was a defining Black trait. She also had piercing black eyes that made her look a little like a vulture, as she glared at her troublesome offspring.

“Sirius, get your disobedient, troublemaking self over here right now. Your father and the Headmaster are meeting now, but from what I heard you have once again brought shame on your family.”

Sirius shrunk lower in his seat, trying to hide; before giving it up as a rum go and getting up to join his mother. Walburga took a moment to nod at her other son, giving him a brief smile that looked more like a grimace. Then she went back to glaring at Sirius, urging him out of the hall in front of her.

As the doors shut behind them, students nearest the entrance heard, “… really Sirius, endangering other students, can you get any lower?”

“Shame on our family once again, you can’t even manage to go a year without forcing your father to come in to deal with you. I’ve had enough of it. I’d hope the Headmaster expels you, except that then I’d have to deal with you lazing about.”

Meanwhile, in the Headmaster’s office, Dumbledore was giving an edited tale of the events of the night before to Orion Black. The only real change made to the story was replacing Remus with a dangerous animal from the Forbidden Forest. Orion looked enough like his wife to be siblings, not surprising given that they were cousins. His portly frame carried much more weight than her sparse lines, but their common coloring and bone structure made their heritage distinct.

“So you see, I’d rather not expel Sirius, but the level of malfeasance is too large for a simple matter of detention. I’ve managed to keep the Ministry out of it, but in another similar situation I may not be so fortunate.”

“I do see, and I quite understand Headmaster. Rest assured that Sirius will be punished according to Black traditions.”

“I will be suspending Sirius for the remainder of term. He is welcome to come to Hogwarts to take his O.W.L. exams, and pending those results and your assessment we may be willing for him to return again next term.”

“Thank you for being so considerate Headmaster, my wife has already gone down to fetch Sirius and we’ll be out of your way shortly. I’ll send Kreacher to fetch his things from the dorm.”

A knock on the door heralded Walburga and Sirius.

“Sirius, my boy, your father and I have agreed that your actions merit a suspension for the rest of term. You will be permitted to take your O.W.L.s with your classmates, but otherwise will not be allowed back on campus for the remainder of the year. We will meet again this summer to evaluate your progress and discuss whether or not you may return next term.”

“Boy, thank your Headmaster for his kindness, he could have expelled you.”

“Thank you, Professor Dumbledore,” Sirius said dully, his face full of shock.

“Come along, boy,”

“But what about my stuff?”

“Kreacher will fetch them, now come.” Walburga sent a stinging hex at Sirius’ backside, and he quickly grabbed the floo powder.

“Grimmauld Place,” he disappeared in a flash of green light.

“Good day to you, Dumbledore,” and with that Orion and Walburga followed their son through the floo.

Dumbledore stared after them in sorrow.

“I hope I don’t end up regretting this,” he muttered to Fawkes. “That boy needs to learn a lesson, but I’m not sure that his parents are capable of teaching it.”

\---

The parlor at Grimmauld Place was dark and dingy, with barely any natural light as Sirius stumbled out of the fireplace. He immediately went to head for his room, but was stopped by Kreacher before he could leave the parlor.

“Mistress said that the nasty boy was to wait here until Master and Mistress returned.”

The fire flared green again, and Orion and Walburga stepped out without a hint of hesitation. Orion turned to his wife and said,

“I have to prepare for tomorrow’s Wizengamut meeting, so I leave Sirius in your capable hands, my dear.” With that, he left the parlor and made his way to his study; locking himself in as was his practice.

“Kreacher, have you finished clearing the boy’s room?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Good, go to Hogwarts and gather all of his things from Gryffindor tower and bring them directly here to the parlor. We will go through them and I will decide which of them he will be allowed to keep.”

Sirius tried to protest, but was over-ridden.

“You have already done enough damage to this family’s reputation today. I will not have you do any more. Sit down.” He sat stiffly on the dark settee across from his mother.

“Now, clearly these Gryffindor friends of yours are a bad influence on you. You will have no further contact with them. Instead, you will be spending your days with me studying for your O.W.L.s. If needed, I will hire you a tutor, but I expect you to get at least E’s in all of your subjects.”

“All of your muggle toys have been removed from your room, as are your personal possessions. You may earn some of them back through good behavior, not that I expect you to do so quickly. Quidditch, and any mention of flying are forbidden, except if your father wishes to discuss them. Kreacher also has been told that you are to do no magic outside of your studies.”

With a pop, Kreacher appeared, dumping Sirius’ trunk out onto the floor.

“Now, let’s see what we have here. Kreacher, put all of Sirius school clothes back into the trunk and move the whole thing into storage. School books are to go to the desk you prepared in the library. Quills, inks and blank parchment the same.”

“The rest of these notes, let’s see what they are… accio parchment.”

“Mother!”

“Kreacher, it looks like Sirius has been trying to get into some girl’s pants, unsuccessfully I see. Oh and he doesn’t seem to like Professor Slughorn. Oh and who is Snivellus, and why is he a ‘greasy git’?”

With each comment, Walburga smirked at Sirius.

“This all looks like useless scribblings, so it can be disposed of without a problem. Kreacher, take care of this rubbish.”

“What’s left, Quidditch gear…, that goes into storage with the rest. Look, more muggle toys, Kreacher put them with the others,” and so it continued until all of Sirius belongings were either in storage or (mostly) disposed of by Kreacher.

Fortunately, Sirius was not prone to keeping things written down and kept the important notes stashed in the Marauders’ joint storage box. Otherwise his mother would have found out all of his secrets, including his animagus status, the work on the Marauders map, and Remus’ lycanthropy.

After that humiliating exercise, Walburga laid out Sirius’ new schedule. He would be spending his days in the library studying for the O.W.L.s with her. The only exceptions would be when she wanted to go out to meet with friends, where he would be her escort to improve his pureblood manners, since his earlier training had clearly not stuck. She would also be hiring him a tutor to instruct him on the details of Ministry law and regulation, since clearly he was unaware of the consequences of his actions or he wouldn’t have gotten himself into this mess.

That night, as Sirius laid in his newly emptied bedroom, he reflected on the events of the past few days.

“Stupid Snivellus, if it weren’t for him I wouldn’t be in this mess.” 


	5. Back at Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Sirius is gone from Hogwarts, what happens to the rest of the group?

The next morning being a Monday, classes at Hogwarts continued as usual. Since the boys had spent the previous day in the infirmary, they were given an extension on any assignments due that day. Otherwise, things were mostly back to normal.

At breakfast, Regulus made his way over to the Gryffindor table to talk to Peter.

“I don’t know if you’ve already heard, but my brother was suspended from Hogwarts yesterday. Mother came to collect him at lunch.”

“What?” Peter had noticed that Sirius wasn’t at breakfast, but figured he’d just overslept as usual. They all had debated in the infirmary what punishment might be meted out, but suspension wasn’t even on the list.

“I’m assuming it’s because of whatever happened to you all Saturday night.”

“I guess.” At this point, Remus and James were also listening in. They were all shocked, as suspension was not a common punishment at Hogwarts. The headmaster wanted to keep students in school as much as possible.

“Yeah… I got an owl from Mother this morning. Apparently, she’s banned all contact between Sirius and his ‘troublesome’ friends. He will be allowed to come to Hogwarts for the O.W.L.s but won’t be back before then. I’ll keep you all posted with anything that I hear.”

“Thanks Reg, I appreciate it,” Peter said, absently, glancing at his friends. What happened to the Marauders after this?

“Of course, see you later.”

With that, Regulus headed back to the Slytherin table. The news quickly spread throughout the Great Hall, as gossip always does.  
In classes that day it was noted that while James, Peter and Remus weren’t hanging out with Severus, there was a distinct lack of insults or spells cast on either side. In the afternoon, Lily and Severus had a free period together and after their last class she pulled him into an unused classroom. Soon, anyone walking by would have been able to hear ‘you did what!’ echoing down the corridor.

Ten minutes later, Lily was dragging Severus to another classroom; where she knew the Marauders had set up their ‘lair’.

“James Charlus Potter, what the hell was Sirius thinking?!” she glared at James. When the boys glanced at Severus, he shrugged.

“You live in the tower with her, so you have to have seen what she’s like when she’s in a temper. Besides, she’s my best friend; did you really think I was going to keep it a secret from her?”

“Sirius wasn’t thinking,” Remus muttered. He was still reeling over the news at breakfast.

“Now Remus, I don’t blame you at all. I wish you’d told me before, as I would have scheduled your patrols to avoid your bad days,” Lily commented.

“There’s no need…” Remus was startled that she immediately jumped to his aid. He was so used to people’s responses being negative that he wasn’t sure how to react to a positive response.

“I’m just glad you’re all okay. Don’t scare me like that again!”

Had the boys thought about it, they would have realized that part of the reason Lily didn’t react negatively was because of her lack of experience with the Wizarding world. She hadn’t been inculcated in the negative press on werewolves like those who grew up knowing about magic.

“She sounds like my mum,” Peter whispered to James, who nodded, “she’s scary when she gets like this.”

\---

Meanwhile, Professors McGonagall and Slughorn had gotten together and decided that a shared detention would be best given the situation. They decided to assign the boys to spend Monday evenings for the next six weeks helping Hagrid in whatever chores he needed. Their hope was to continue the newfound cessation of hostilities that they had seen in the Headmaster’s office the previous day.

With that in mind, McGonagall went to see Hagrid before supper to inform him that he would have the boys visiting him for detention.

“Now, we want them to get along, mind. So they need to do something that forces them to work together. Have them clean out the Thestral stables or something.” She knew that physical labor and shared tasks would provide a motivation for teamwork between the formerly feuding students.

“Yeh got it, Professor. I ha’ lots o’ dirty work that needs doin’.”

At supper, the professors informed the boys of their detention. “Oh, and Mr. Lupin; since you missed detention the other night you can join the others for this one,” said McGonagall.

For their first night, Hagrid put them to work weeding the night gardens. As they arrived just after sunset, the gardens were coming alive for the night when Hagrid led them through the gate.

“Yeh can only tell which plants are t’ be pulled at night. Yeh need to remove anything that isn’t bloomin’ or shinin’.” The gardens were full of plants which had different levels of bioluminescence, and some of them had blooms that were blossoming as they spoke.

“Is there a spell that you want us to use?” James wasn’t the greatest at Herbology, despite his mother’s best efforts. He’d spent way too much time as a child having to pull weeds as a punishment and was hoping that Hagrid might have a magical solution in mind.

“Sorry lads, yeh should know from Herbology by now that this sort o’ job has to be done by hand. Be careful not to touch the pink flowers with your bare skin, yeh hear; they’ll make yeh swell up somethin’ fierce.”

With a groan, the boys set to work. Before long, however; they discovered some of the magic of the night garden. “Hey look, this one flashes when you approach it.”

“That’s a Luminous Lichen,” said Peter, “I read about it in our Herbology text. The light is triggered by the presence of magic, which makes it useful in Warding potions.” Of the Marauders he took the most interest in Herbology, helped along by summer conversations with James’ mother, Dorea Potter.

“Oh, I’ve used the dried powder in potions; just never seen the living plant.” While Severus wasn’t particularly interested in taking care of gardens, he was fascinated by the intersection with his own passion.

“What potion was that? I don’t remember any Warding potions being covered in class.”

“Well you see, Lupin, Professor Slughorn sometimes lets me experiment in one of the unused classrooms on the weekends. I was trying something I read in a book on Warding.”

While Severus wasn’t at the pinnacle of Slughorn’s favorites he was the best Slytherin student in that subject, Slughorn saw his talent and hoped that encouraging Severus would lead to another student whom he could claim credit for inspiring.

“Why?” James asked curiously. His own interest in Wards had been growing recently, inspired by the many forms of Warding he’d encountered between the Potter properties, the Shrieking Shack, and some of the other pureblood estates that he’d visited.

“Honestly, I was trying to find something to protect myself against you four,” Severus joked and they all laughed.

A few minutes later, Remus suddenly hissed, and drew his hand back. The other three came rushing over to look, “ouch, that looks nasty,” said James, as Remus’ hand was already swelling up and turning red.

Severus pulled out his wand, “Reducto Allergens,” he intoned, “there must be something there that gives werewolves hives.”

“Lumos,” muttered James, and they looked down. There was a clump of Aconite growing under a larger plant with bright white blooms.

“Oh, that’s a particularly potent strain of Aconite,” Peter commented.

James pulled it out of the ground, but before he could do anything else, Severus cried, “wait!”

He took the plant from James. “I’ve read about the ongoing development of the Wolfsbane potion in one of Professor Slughorn’s journals. This particular strain of Aconite is a key ingredient. I’d like to test a few things with it if you don’t mind.”

“Why would you do that?” asked Remus, as Severus wrapped the plant in a handkerchief he’d pulled out of his pocket.

“Now that I’ve seen what your wolf is like, Lupin, I’d prefer not to have you hurting yourself or others if I can help it.”  
James and Peter grinned at him as Remus blinked. “But… you don’t even like me.”

Severus snorted, “Plus, it’s a puzzle that no one else has solved.”

“Oh, that makes more sense.”

As they went back to work, James pulled Severus aside quickly. “That was kindly done, Snape.”

“Is he always unwilling to believe people might want to help?” Severus asked quietly in return.

“He had some bad experiences before he got to Hogwarts. Not his parents thank Merlin, but classmates and neighbors who shunned him or chased him away when they found out. That’s why the Lupins live in a Muggle village now.” Prejudice against werewolves had been growing worse in recent years, as many purebloods saw them not only as dark creatures but also as a source of potential leak to the Muggles.

“Wait, how long has Lupin been a werewolf?”

“You’ll have to ask him if you want the whole story, but since he was pretty young.” Remus had been turned as a young child by Fenrir Greyback, a notorious werewolf who preyed on young children, Muggle and Wizard alike. Remus’ father was a Magizoologist who had been studying lycanthropy for years, examining how werewolves in different parts of the world lived. He had learned that for most werewolves, there were strategies that they could implement to control their wolves. Mr. Lupin had published a book on werewolf cultures, trying to change public opinions in England. Greyback was incensed by his thesis, as Fenrir had taken advantage of Wizarding England’s attitude to blame his actions on his wolf instead of his pyschopathic tendencies.

“Ouch,” Severus muttered.

“Yeah,” James agreed.

“Are you two done gossiping, or should I hex you back to work,” called Peter.

With that, the topic was dropped. After several hours, Hagrid came out to check on them and was pleased to note the progress made in the garden.

“Tha’ looks great. Yeh can really see some o’ the blooms now. Professor Sprout will be very ‘appy, she wants ter bring some o’ her classes ter the garden.”  
“Now, would yeh care for a spot o’ tea before yeh head back to the castle?”

The four boys nodded, as the cool air was still pretty brisk, despite it being fairly far into spring. Once everyone was served, Hagrid began, “I’m glad to see yeh gettin’ along so well. By what the Professor said I thought yeh would be at each other’s throats.”

They glanced at each other, and Hagrid blushed,

“Oh, I wasn’ supposed to tell yeh that…”

Everyone just laughed. They had already figured from the speculative looks that they had been given during their recitation in the Headmaster’s office that their willingness to be civil was going to be endorsed. Each of them had decided individually that they were going to take full advantage of the staff’s encouragement to ease their workloads for a while. A glance around the table cemented their alliance.

“How very Slytherin,” mused Severus, “I guess they’re not as stupid as they seem.” While he was used to the pranks the Marauder’s had played on both himself and others, he had never really considered how much advanced planning they must do in advance of most pranks.  
Since it was now after curfew, Hagrid escorted Severus, James, Remus and Peter back to their respective dorms; each of them lost in thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally finished dealing with the immediate impacts of our one fateful night. But what are the long term consequences?


	6. A New Alliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life at Hogwarts continues with a change in the interpersonal dynamics of our main characters.

As the weeks went on, a tentative peace between the remaining Marauders and Severus grew into a new-found friendship as the agreement made that night at Hagrid’s led them to closer interactions.

In the Slytherin-Gryffindor classes, James began sitting with Severus since his usual partner was away. He soon found that Severus’ biting sarcasm was a great antidote to boredom when it wasn’t aimed at him and in turn Severus found that James’ quick thinking wasn’t limited to pranks. They frequently found themselves partnering in their shared classes, much to the surprise of the other students. Everyone soon realized that if James and Severus were clever with their pranks on each other, when they teamed up they could be diabolical.

For example, one morning they laced the pumpkin juice at breakfast with a potion that caused people’s skin to change colors when exposed to magic. The color varied depending on the specific spell, and ‘Finite Incantatem’ changed the region of skin where the spell hit to an albino white. The potion only lasted for forty-eight hours, but by the end of the second day many people looked like Jackson Pollack paintings. In addition, using pumpkin juice meant that most of the student body was affected, while those who weren’t in the habit of drinking the juice at breakfast looked suspicious. Obviously, the boys had drunk their own potion and were able to avoid consequences because no one could prove that they did it.

Since Severus was working with James in their shared classes, he took the time to make sure that Lily also had a Slytherin partner. To that end, he recruited his friend and year mate Narcissa Black, who had helped him with the pureblood politics of the Slytherin dungeons. Narcissa, while at first glance a purebred princess; was actually an aspiring healer who planned to seek an apprenticeship at St. Mungos after graduation. Though they had not previously been close friends, Lily and Narcissa had been friendly in the past. Now they provided each other with a balance for all the testosterone in the air as neither of them had other close female friends. 

It was up for debate which new friendship was more shocking to the school as James and Severus were famous rivals, while the girls had complicated reputations. Narcissa was known as the ice princess who kept everyone at a distance and Lily as the fiery redhead whose sharp tongue drove off others. Naturally, the pureblood bullies tried to break up the pair, but the magical strength and skills of the group were sufficient to scare away all but the most determined attackers. 

Meanwhile, without Sirius’ teasing and Severus’ attacks, Peter was able to relax and become more comfortable in his own skin. He bonded with Narcissa and Severus over Herbology, although their interests were more on the magical applications for potions and healing side rather than the gardening or growth and development of the plants side. Peter and Lily became study partners in Arithmancy, his not so secret passion. At the same time, Peter’s friendship with Regulus went from occasional chats to close companionship since without Sirius’ being around they could hang out without fear of reprisals. 

Regulus also kept everyone in the loop with news of Sirius, not that there was that much to share.

“Mother’s keeping him pretty locked up for now,” he told Peter. “I doubt I’d be able to get anything to him until summer, since Mother knows we don’t usually talk. But I’ll keep you informed if I have any success.”

Remus was really the only one who severely struggled with Sirius’ absence. While he hadn’t admitted his feelings to anyone, even himself; Moony had begun to view Sirius as his Mate, and now that Mate was gone. He withdrew into his studies, and wrote long unsent letters to Sirius. Everyone made a distinct effort to cheer him up; whether it was Peter picking up his favorite chocolates at Honeydukes, or James convincing him to work on the Marauders map. 

“We should finish it before Sirius comes back,” James said, “and surprise him with the completed map.”

“What about all your new friends?” Remus, asked. While he appreciated all of the new connections that they made, the fact that James and Peter seemed to be unaffected by Sirius absence made his wolf instincts worry about his place in the pack.   
“I think the map is one secret that belongs to just the four of us,” James grinned. After all they’d declared during their first year that the Marauders legacy was going to be epic, and the map was a key part of that legacy.  
That got him a wan smile, “I think so too.”

Lily and Severus also got in on the efforts to encourage Remus. Given their shared interest in academics, it was no surprise that Lily’s encouragement came in the form of O.W.L.s study guides and quiz nights. For Severus, the depression that Remus was struggling with reminded him of his mother’s problems back home. So he was inspired to devote time to serious research on lycanthropy and its side effects. At first Severus focused on the potions development, but he soon found himself reading about the many strategies that werewolves used to cope with their symptoms. 

“Hey Lils, look at this,” said Severus, reading from a recent potions journal as they sat together in the library.  
“What?” Lily asked, leaning to look over his shoulder.

“It says here that Belby saw improved results when he tested his potion on werewolves in packs.” 

“Really,” she said, “how fascinating.”

“It says that the pack is most helpful on the night of the full moon, as it provides a distraction for the werewolf and helps keep him from doing damage to his body.” 

“That makes sense, actually,” 

“Yeah, I noticed that Remus was actually in decent shape at the end of the full moon night and James mentioned that he was less prone to hurting himself once they started running with him.” It still blew Severus’ mind that the Marauders had managed to gain Animagus forms so young. Everything he’d heard about the transformation suggested it was an extremely difficult piece of transfiguration. Severus had never even considered that it might be something that could be learnt by students at Hogwarts.

“I guess we’d better try and learn too, then,” Severus and Lily grinned at each other, “after the O.W.L.s are done.”

Upon gaining Remus’ permission to share the secret, Narcissa and Regulus were also informed of Remus’ lycanthropy as their friendship with the other progressed. Regulus was especially drawn to the animagus solution, just like his older brother, while Narcissa agreed with Severus that better treatment options were needed. She decided to help Severus and Lily with their potions project, as Narcissa knew that healers regularly had to treat lycanthropes that had self-injured or accidentally turned others during the full moon. Of course, part of Remus’ willingness to share his secret with others came from his longing for Sirius and a hope that as Blacks, Narcissa and Regulus might provide renewed contact with his friend (mate). 

With the plans for expanding their animagus group in place, James made copies of the relevant text from his book, along with notes taken during the process, for everyone to take home with them over the summer break. The break was a perfect time to practice, as much of the early work involved meditation to determine the individual’s animal form and didn’t require a wand or detectable magic.

And so, before they knew it, June and O.W.L.s had arrived.  
 


	7. O.W.L.s

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> O.W.L.s week has arrived and the Marauders are reunited. Sirius learns of the new status quo.

While everyone back at Hogwarts was bonding, Sirius’ life in Grimmauld Place remained bleak. Between his mother and Kreacher, he was constantly bombarded with insults about how stupid he was, or how much of a disappointment he had turned out to be. Walburga Black, being a firm believer in the idea of ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’, did not shy away from physical or magical punishments. This included a routine of disciplinary hexes that doubled as his practical defense against the dark arts training. 

“Diffindo,” she called, casting a hex as she entered the library.

“Protego!” yelled Sirius, just in time to avoid its impact. While Walburga was impressed with his casting speed, she would never say as much to Sirius, for fear of ‘spoiling’ him. She turned to the large star chart that hung on the nearby wall.

“Now, let’s review your Astronomy assignment for the day. When is the constellation of Orion visible in the night sky in October? You should know this; after all it is your father’s namesake.”

And so it went over several weeks. Any sign of weakness or failure would result in punishment, and no rewards were given for success. Occasionally, Orion would poke his head into the library and ask a few questions about Sirius’ studies; but otherwise he left everything to Walburga. This was pureblood family custom, as running of the household was one of the consort’s responsibilities.

Then, a letter came from Regulus at Hogwarts, ostensibly for Walburga. However, enclosed within was a letter for Sirius, which Regulus asked his mother to pass along. 

“Go ahead and read it,” Walburga said, handing the letter to Sirius after confirming that the letter was from her son, “maybe your brother will be able to get you in a more productive frame of mind.”

Regulus’ letter was chatty and full of news and gossip, exactly what Sirius had been craving. He scoured it for hints of his friends and was surprised to find that the letter was actually full of them. He realized that Regulus was, in his own very Slytherin way, trying to help. Then he read a paragraph that supremely pissed him off.

“Oh, and the most interesting thing has occurred,” he read, “it seems that Potter and Snape have somehow made up, and have been seen working together on many occasions. My sources indicate that Potter has even given up his pursuit of Evans and is instead started working with Snape on pranks and course work.”

“Stupid Snivellus,” thought Sirius, “how dare James replace me with that greasy git!”

Without the perspective of recent events at Hogwarts, he couldn’t understand how James and, he assumed, the others, could possibly make peace with Snape. After all, they had despised each other for nearly five years. 

“He must have managed to trick them somehow.”

\---

Walburga was ‘gracious’ enough to allow Sirius to write his brother back, but he was in such a snit over the news about Severus that his letter was perfunctory and contained no messages for Regulus to pass along. With a thoughtful look, Walburga mentioned that he would be allowed to continue correspondence with his brother as long as he kept to the rules that she had outlined, namely no contact with his Gryffindor friends.

What she didn’t tell him was that she instructed Kreacher to keep an eye on the correspondence and if either brother tried to smuggle letters in from or to others that he was just to remove them and store them in with Sirius’ other things. No contact, after all, meant absolutely no contact. 

\---

By the time the O.W.L.s week arrived, Sirius was miserable, bitter, and better prepared for his exams than he had ever been in his whole life. 

A couple of weeks beforehand, the Blacks were sent a letter with the schedule of times for the O.W.L. exams to be given at Hogwarts. This was a form letter sent by the Ministry of Magic for all students who were taking the O.W.L.s in the United Kingdom, including those not attending Hogwarts. There had always been a number of students who for a variety of reasons didn’t attend the school, but would come to take the exams since it was the only testing facility certified by the Ministry’s Department of Education. During the week, housing was made available for those students visiting for the exams. This housing was separate from the regular dorms as many of the visiting students weren’t suited for close interaction with the general Hogwarts community. In fact, many of the ‘students’ were adult Muggleborns who didn’t find out about magic until later in life or those with creature blood who couldn’t pass for human. 

The schedule of exams was as follows:

Sunday Evening: Astronomy  
Monday AM: Divination, PM: Potions   
Tuesday AM: Muggle Studies, PM: Defense against the Dark Arts  
Wednesday AM: Care of Magical Creatures, PM: Transfiguration  
Thursday AM: Muggle Studies, PM: Charms  
Friday AM: History of Magic, PM: Herbology  
Saturday AM: Arithmancy, PM: Ancient Runes

With this schedule, Sirius would be at Hogwarts for a week. His electives were Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy which was an elective starting 3rd year but which was expected for members of the Black family. Walburga decided that Kreacher would remain with him to Hogwarts throughout the week to ‘make sure he didn’t contact his little friends.’

\---

On the Saturday a week before the O.W.L.s were set to begin, Regulus received a letter from his Mother. He read it out to Peter, as they sat in the Great Hall after breakfast. 

“’Regulus, my darling boy’, she always calls me that to ‘distinguish me from my brother.’” He rolled his eyes at Peter.

“’I will be coming to Hogwarts next Sunday with your brother for his O.W.L.s and would like for you to join us for lunch.’ Great, maybe I can find out what the heck is up with Sirius.”

“’Be aware that I have forbidden Sirius any contact with his former dorm-mates, particularly that brat of a cousin, James. I have seen great progress in him since he was sent home and would hate for him to fall back into bad habits. Kreacher will be at Hogwarts all week to ensure that my directives are carried out. Do not attempt to help your brother violate my strictures or I shall be forced to assume that you’ve fallen under the same influences.’ That’s my mother’s subtle threat that what happened to Sirius could happen to me if I disobey her.” 

Regulus and Peter had made a practice of eating breakfast together whenever a letter came in from his parents. Not that he ever really got anything from his father. 

“What are we going to do? You know how Remus has been; looking forward to this week is the only thing keeping him calm,” 

“We’ll think of something,” Regulus replied. He had already begun brainstorming ways to get around Kreacher’s elf-magic. 

“We have to tell James and the others,” 

“I’ll leave that up to you. I’d rather not be the bearer of bad news again. Moony was bad enough last time as it was.” On the last full moon, Regulus, Severus, Lily and Narcissa had come out to meet and keep Moony company during his transformation, along with Peter and James in their animal forms. In order to do so safely, they utilized a Ward the group had developed to protect themselves. The Ward was a combination of a potion that was consumed by those to be protected, and a charm that was laid down in the space where they were being Warded. This meant that the Ward needed a great deal of setup in advance, so the group decided to just Ward a single room in the shack. 

They were inspired by the Wards that Dumbledore and the Hogwarts staff had gone back and reinforced on the outside of the shack to make sure that Moony couldn’t escape again. This time, the staff had included a second door for if someone ever got stuck like Severus with the wolf between them and the exit. In that situation, they could use the new secondary exit without compromising the containment Wards, which merely blocked werewolves and not regular humans.

When Moony first spotted Regulus after his transformation, he had growled threateningly and tried to cross the Ward. In contrast, Narcissa and Lily only got a low grumble in acknowledgement and Severus was almost ignored, much as James and Peter were. Severus hypothesized that it was because Moony’s last memory of Severus as the wolf was during their ‘keep-away’ the month before, when chasing after the boy had been less than successful.

“Right, we’ll think of something,” 

Peter and Regulus separated to talk to the Gryffindor and Slytherin components of their group. 

\---

Since everyone else was busy doing last minute O.W.L. cramming, Regulus volunteered to lead the effort in finding solutions to the problem of giving Sirius and Remus a face-to-face contact. The challenge was Kreacher’s house-elf magic. Everyone knew that getting around house-elves who wanted to do their masters bidding was extremely difficult. Their only hope was to recruit one or more of the Hogwarts house-elves to help. 

Fortunately, the Marauders had already discovered the secret access to the kitchens, ‘behind the ticklish pear.’ Since everyone was well aware that Remus was the one most in need of contact, they decided to use Walburga’s special dislike of James to their advantage. They knew that she would tell Kreacher to prioritize keeping James away. 

The plan was as followed; Regulus would drop a hint during lunch that Sirius should go down to the kitchens for a late snack after dinner on Monday. Meanwhile, Regulus would reveal to Kreacher as ‘Mistress’s good boy’ that James was planning to sneak into Sirius’ room that night. James would lurk about with the invisibility cloak, popping into view just long enough for Kreacher to see that he was there, keeping him focused on the main entrance to the visitors’ quarters. At the same time, Peter would use the window to sneak Sirius out with their animagus forms to avoid Kreacher’s house-elf Wards and from there into the kitchen.

They had already gotten the Hogwarts house-elves to agree to have Remus study with them in the kitchens, just in case Sirius came in. The house-elves, who had seen how sad Remus had been in recent weeks, were willing to not inform Kreacher of Sirius’ whereabouts if he stopped by the kitchen. Many of them particularly disliked Kreacher, and were glad to put one over on the overbearing house-elf. The whole time, Regulus would be watching on the Marauder’s Map to make sure that Kreacher never became suspicious and the rest of the company were going to help keep the corridors safe for transit.

“Reg, I should accompany you to lunch to keep your mother distracted so you can slip a hint to my troublesome cousin more easily,” Narcissa mentioned. She and Sirius weren’t close, but she had become fond of the bookish werewolf and wanted to help him.

\---

And so it went. On Sunday Regulus and Narcissa headed up to lunch, where Narcissa distracted Walburga by asking about her chronic pain. Walburga, who was a bit of a hypochondriac like many of her peers, was easily led into talking with her young cousin. This allowed Regulus to pass along his message under cover of the other conversation.

Sirius, who knew that Narcissa would never volunteer to see his mother; was primed for contact of any kind. This helped him easily read his brother’s message to be ready for a ‘jailbreak’. With hope in hand, he managed to stay focused during Potions and not get distracted by seeing all his friends (and enemies) on the other side of the room. O.W.L. exams were given with minimal contact allowed between test-takers in order to avoid cheating. Plus, with Kreacher on monitoring duty Sirius knew that any attempt to reach out to his friends would result in tighter supervision. By the time Sirius got back to his rooms and had dinner Monday night, he was practically vibrating with suppressed excitement as he headed to ‘bed’.

\---

Less than an hour later, Regulus knocked on the door. Kreacher opened it.

“What is Mistress’s good boy doing here?” he muttered, a suspicious scowl on his face. 

“Kreacher, I overheard at dinner that James Potter was planning to come sneaking up to see my brother tonight. I told my mother that I would help you keep him in line, so I came to warn you.”

In the other room, Sirius growled; ‘how could his sneak of a brother betray them. Here he had been thinking charitable thoughts but it turned out his brother really was a liar.’

“Mistress will be pleased; Kreacher will keep an eye out for the troublesome boy.” Kreacher brightened at the thought that he could please the Mistress. His devotion to Walburga was absolute.

“Stupid boy… leading poor Mistress’s confused son astray… Kreacher wishes he were allowed to hex the blood traitor…” Kreacher muttered under his breath as he headed out the door, not even realizing that he was talking out loud. 

Sirius overheard Kreacher as he open the outer door, poking his head out to watch the house-elf leave. 

“I’ll make sure Mistress is obeyed…” Kreacher’s voice trailed off as he stepped outside the room into the corridor and he began searching for any sign of James.

At the same time, Sirius heard a tap at the window of his room. He opened it and looked out to see a rat clinging to the sill. “Peter,” he whispered.

The rat beckoned with a single paw; but when Sirius tried to climb out, it shook its head. 

“What is it Peter? Oh, you want me to use Padfoot?” Sirius shifted form into his dog shape, then nudged the window open and jumped out. Fortunately, there was a roof directly below the window, so the two animals were able to sneak across the roof and through another window into another corridor of the castle. One of the good things about being in animagus form was that the portraits tended to ignore animals, so word of their presence wouldn’t get back to the Hogwarts staff. 

“Hsst,” they heard, and Peter scurried into a nook where Lily Evans stood hidden behind a statue. When Sirius looked at her, puzzled, she held a finger to her lips and gestured at the corridor. From the shadows they saw the form of Argus Filch, the caretaker, stumping down the hall. 

“Where are you, little brats? I know some of you are out causing mischief, I can sense it.”

Once he passed, she gestured them onwards. Sirius was confused, why would Evans be helping them, wasn’t she a prefect. And how did she know about their forms? 

\---

When they reached the corridor with the portrait of the fruit, Sirius knew where they were headed. Without prompting he changed back and tickled the pear, which giggled as the portrait swung aside. Peter gestured him to go in, then ran off back down the corridor. 

Sirius, bemused, followed his directions. The moment he entered the kitchens he was hit by a hundred kilos of half-laughing/half-sobbing werewolf. 

“Whoa there, Remus, what’s the big deal?” Sirius was momentarily shocked by the intensity of Remus’ hug, then leant into the first physical contact he’d had since leaving Hogwarts. Neither of his parents was prone to any kind of physical affection, and Sirius had missed the casual touches of his friends more than he’d realized.

“Sorry, Siri, I’ve just missed you,” Remus huffed, relaxing fully for the first time since he’d found out about Sirius’ suspension. 

“Where’s James? And where did Peter run off to?” Now that he was finally able to talk to at least one of his friends, the questions came pouring out. 

“Oh, the others are playing decoy to keep Kreacher off our backs,” said Remus with a wink, reminding Sirius of many a night of setting up pranks. 

“So my brother wasn’t being a slimy Slytherin after all,” Sirius mused. 

Remus shook his head, “be nice, Siri, he’s been a great help to us.”

“Really, we are talking about Reg, right?” Ever since Regulus had been sorted Slytherin the two brothers had maintained their distance, encouraged by Walburga to keep ‘those Gryffindors’ from spoiling both her sons. 

“Yes, dumbass, he’s been keeping tabs on you for us and trying to keep you in the loop at the same time.” Remus giggled slightly, trying to keep his ‘odd’ hysteria in check. 

“But why you? I mean, why are you the one down here to see me while the others ran interference?” Sirius was puzzled; he’d assumed that James would be the one to talk to him. After all, James tended to take leadership in their little group. 

“What, aren’t you glad to see me?” Remus knew that Sirius wasn’t trying to hurt him, still he cringed a little at the whine his wolf made at the thought of his mate not wanting to see him. 

“Of course, Moony, of course; I just would have thought you’d be too busy panicking over the O.W.L.s.”

“Academics aren’t all I think about, you prat,” Remus shoved his friend, allowing his tension to ease. 

“Then tell me all the gossip. I’ve been trapped in hell with no news of the ladies. Any new hook-ups? And who are you fancying these days?” Remus blushed, how could he tell Sirius the truth? That HE was the one that Remus was fancying.

“Well…” he stammered, “no luck on my end…”

“What about Evans? I thought she hated us, especially James, despite his pining. But she helped Peter and I avoid Filch.” After all, just a few months ago Lily had gotten him with a ‘Scourgify’ upon hearing Sirius brag about his ‘encounters’ with the ladies. The only reason Sirius hadn’t retaliated was that he knew that James would be mad if he did anything to his beloved Lily. 

“Yeah, he’s kind of eased up on his crush. She’s been acting a bit too mum-ish for his tastes.” Sirius’ eyebrows shot up; James’ crush on Lily was legendary at this point in the Gryffindor dorms thanks to his many failed attempts to get her to go out with him. 

“How would he know that?”

“She’s actually been hanging out with us a bunch; plus she and Narcissa have become best friends.” 

“What???” Sirius couldn’t believe that his uptight cousin was willing to be seen in public with a Muggleborn witch. He knew how careful Narcissa had always been to appear to match the family’s expectations. Still, that did explain why Narcissa was at lunch with them the previous day.

“I know, right; who’d have thought your icy cousin would ever talk to a Muggleborn…” Remus teased. He’d never really interacted with Narcissa before recently, and so wasn’t sure what Sirius actually thought of her.

“How’d they even meet?” Sirius asked. He knew that Narcissa had to have found some strategy to make the friendship okay in the eyes of the family.

“Oh, Severus hooked them up,” Remus replied. 

“Snivellus? But why?” Sirius knew that Narcissa had a previous alliance with the greasy git, but he hadn’t realized that the Slytherin had enough pull to make his alliance worth the taint of a Muggleborn in the eyes of the Black family. 

“Lily needed a new Slytherin class partner since James and Severus have been partnering,” Remus shrugged. Since the Lupins were not a Wizarding pureblood noble house and he’d been mostly raised in the Muggle world, Remus wasn’t really aware of the subtleties of pureblood diplomacy. He just figured that Severus and Narcissa were friends. 

“What! They hate each other!” yelled Sirius. He couldn’t believe that Jamie would give up on their epic feud just like that. After all, pureblood feuds were never resolved without some level of bloodshed, even among the Light families. 

“Not any more they don’t,” Remus argued. 

‘So Regulus wasn’t lying about that either,’ Sirius mused. Still, Snivellus being nice; that seemed unlikely.

\---

Suddenly the boy himself poked his head into the kitchens.

“Quick, wrap it up; I don’t think James can keep Kreacher out much longer,” he told Remus, who nodded.

“Come on Siri, we’ve got to get you back,” Remus said, grabbing Sirius by the arm when he didn’t move.

“But…” Sirius protested. He didn’t want to leave, not before he got all his questions answered.

“Remember, you have to cross the windowsill as a dog for Kreacher’s Wards to be fooled,” Severus called as he headed off down the corridor in the opposite direction from the way that Remus and Sirius need to proceed.

Remus led Sirius back to the window that he’d previously used to re-enter the castle after his escape from the visitors dorms, shushing him every time he tried to speak. When they reached the window, Remus grabbed Sirius in a tight hug again before whispering, “Quick, transform and get back in your room.”

As Sirius obeyed his friend’s instructions, he found himself lost in thought. All sorts of strange things were happening at Hogwarts while he was away from the castle. Even Snivellus was being nice. But wait, Moony had said that James had backed off from Lily. ‘So that’s his game,’ Sirius thought, ‘he’s trying to scare off his rival and without me around Jamie fell for it. Clever little Slytherin, isn’t he. I bet he even convinced ‘Cissa to help him.’

With that convoluted logic tumbling through his head, Sirius barely noticed Kreacher poking his head in to check on his charge. He lay in bed brooding until he fell fast asleep.

\---

For Remus, having that conversation and physical contact made all the difference to his mental state. He woke in high spirits and practically bounced out of bed to get ready for breakfast. Peter and James looked at each other and grinned, as did Lily when she saw him in the common room. The four made their way down to the Great Hall, where the Gryffindors flashed a subtle thumbs-up at their Slytherin counterparts. With satisfied smiles, the group all looked towards the front of the hall, where Sirius was absently eating. He was clearly busy in his own head and missed the whole interplay between the tables. 

However, Kreacher’s failure to catch James on Monday had made him paranoid and the group was unable to arrange another meeting that week. Regulus did manage to talk Kreacher into letting him visit his brother one night and the two had a good talk.

“Look, I know that we haven’t always got along in the past; but you know how hard it is to deal with Mother and Kreacher. I need you to trust that I am on your side here. I promise, I’ll do my best to pass on any messages from your friends. Just know that that they all care about you a lot, especially Remus.”

With his own feelings for Peter starting to grow into a crush, Regulus was acutely sensitive to the fact that Remus’ feelings for his brother had become more than just friendship. He also knew that his brother wasn’t ready to hear that, being too focused on his own identity as a womanizer and ‘panty-thief’. 

“Thanks, Reg. I’ll see you when you get home. Good luck on your finals, too. Try to get high enough marks so that Mother isn’t tempted to repeat her punishment on you now that she knows how to do it.”  
The brothers both shuddered.

“At least you should get a study break now.”

“Yeah, but who knows what Mother has planned,” 

The two boys sat in silence for a while before Regulus gave his brother one final hug. 

Heading out the door, Regulus waved to both Sirius and Kreacher with a little smirk, “you to behave yourselves, now.”

‘Brat,’ thought Sirius, turning away. At least one good thing had come out of this whole mess. He was finally reconciled with his brother.   
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up significantly larger than previous chapters, but I couldn't see an obvious break point. Hope you enjoyed the reunion.


	8. Summer Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follow up to O.W.L.'s week and making plans for the vacation.

When Sirius returned to Grimmauld Place, his mother called him into the parlor. 

“Boy, I understand from Kreacher that he managed to keep you away from bad influences.” Kreacher had been extremely smug as the week reached its end with no sign of contact. The house-elf’s sickly looking grin at Sirius as he entered the Headmaster’s office to floo back to his parents’ home was almost enough to make Sirius heave.

“Yes, Mother,” 

“Good,” Walburga was pleased that her progeny had met her expectations, for once. While Sirius wouldn’t get his O.W.L. scores for several weeks, Kreacher’s reports on Sirius had at least not been negative. 

“Since you’ve been well behaved, I’ve allowed Kreacher to return your things. They’re in your room.” Of course, Walburga would not return any obviously Muggle items as those had already been disposed of by Kreacher. She did grant Sirius access to his broom and Quidditch gear, as well as his personal books and journals. 

“Thank you, Mother!” Sirius couldn’t believe his mother was actually not insulting him for once. 

“Don’t thank me just yet. Your father and I have decided that you need to be productive to keep out of trouble. I don’t have time to keep watching you here, so I’ve arranged with cousin Polaris for you to spend the summer working for him.” Walburga believed that getting Sirius out of the country would be a guaranteed way to ensure that he didn’t ‘back-slide’ into bad habits again. Orion agreed, and suggested one of their extended relatives. 

“Cousin Polaris?” Sirius was puzzled; he’d never heard the name before.

“Yes boy, your Russian cousin who’s a Ward-keeper for the Russian Ministry in St. Petersburg. You leave in the morning at 7am. Your father has arranged an international portkey to your cousin’s estate. I’ve had Kreacher put your trunk in your room, and you may pack it with whatever you care to take with you. Make sure to include your good dress robes, as I expect your behavior to be an impeccable reflection of our family’s good name.” 

Orion only knew his cousin, Polaris Black by his international reputation. The head of the Russian branch of the Black family was known to be a skilled Wizard with a proud tradition and ties to much of the Wizarding leadership in Eastern Europe. Arcturus Black, Orion’s father and head of the English Black family, had recommended Polaris to his son as a good role model for his reckless grandson. 

Sirius sighed. Now he wouldn’t even get a chance to hang out with Reg during the summer, but was stuck with his unknown cousin. And Russia, of all places… He’d just finished reading about the Muggle Russian Revolution in his Muggle Studies textbook, what was it going to be like there?

\---

For everyone at Hogwarts, the end of standardized testing (aka O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s) meant that the 5th and 7th years got a week off while the rest of the school finished their final exams. Now that Remus had gotten his visit with Sirius, and had the promise of letters from Regulus to keep him up to date during the summer, he was able to shake off his depression and the group started planning their summer activities.

“Remus, Peter, you’re still spending the weeks around the full moons with us, right?” James asked. The Marauders had been spending full moon summer weeks at the Potter estate, where Moony could run safely, since they had achieved their animagus forms in 3rd year. 

“Of course,” they both murmured. 

“Lily, Severus, I’d love to have both of you join us. My parents have this huge estate in Devon where we hang out. Its Wards also mean that we can do magic without getting in trouble with the Ministry as long as we stay inside the property boundaries.” James adored having friends over to the estate as there weren’t any neighbors for him to hang out with otherwise. He’d had a pretty lonely childhood; with only the occasional visit from his parents’ peers and their children. Pureblood Wizarding families commonly employed tutors or taught their children at home during primary school, and many of the larger estates were far away from the general Muggle or Wizarding population. 

“I might be able to make it the second moon week, but my family goes to visit with relatives in July every year,” replied Lily, “let me check with my parents and get back to you.” The Evans family was your typical Muggle middle class, and summer holidays were the time when they visited with extended family on the Continent. 

“No problem,” James grinned. While he wasn’t as obsessed with the possibility of dating Lily Evans as he used to be, the thought of his long time crush coming to his home was still a thrill.

As she thought about James’ offer, Lily realized that this was the first chance she had to see what life was like in a Wizarding home. “My parents would want to meet your parents first, and make sure that we’re ‘supervised’,” she mentioned. Although her parents couldn’t control her life at Hogwarts, they were very protective of both her and her sister Petunia. They would expect there to be some ‘adult supervision’ present at any visit. 

James laughed; his parents had often left the boys home alone with just the Potter house-elves for company in the past. He wasn’t sure if Muggles would consider them sufficient supervision.

“My mum usually side-along apparates everyone back at the end of the week. I could probably ask her to pick you up and chat with your parents. The house-elves usually just keep an eye on us during the week because the Wards keep us safe, but I’m sure mum would be able to reassure them.” 

“Thanks,” Lily hoped that her parents would agree. 

“Just tell them that dad is… a solicitor and mum is… a botanist and on the board of several charities.” It took James a moment to figure out the best Muggle analogues for his parents’ careers.

“Okay, what do they actually do?” 

“Dad really is a solicitor but he spends much of his time dealing with politics as a member of the Wizengamut, he’s a Lord you know. Mum could be just a pureblood Lady, but she’s also a keen Herbologist whose stock supplies many reputable Potioneers. Her gardens and greenhouses in Devon are amazing. She also works with several of the charities associated with St. Mungos.” 

“Yeah,” agreed Peter, “she usually stops by during the week to visit. I always end up doing my summer Herbology assignment at James’.” 

Remus also indicated his agreement with Peter via a short nod. Lily was surprised; she hadn’t realized that James’ family was in the upper echelon of Wizarding society. Of course, she’d never really thought about pureblood politics before, as Dumbledore had removed Wizarding Studies from the Hogwarts curriculum soon after he became Headmaster. Muggleborns and other students raised in the ordinary world were only exposed to traditional Wizarding culture through their Wizard raised peers. 

“Severus, what about you?” James asked. 

“I don’t know…” Severus, like Lily, was extremely curious to see the reality of life in a Wizard’s home. He’d heard stories all his life from his mother about growing up at the Prince estate, but had never actually experienced the noble Wizarding culture. None of his Slytherin peers were close enough friends enough to invite him to stay with them during any of the holidays. 

“Don’t worry, Sev, I’m sure that your mum would love for you to go.” Lily knew that the main reason that Severus was hesitating was because of concerns about his mother’s wellbeing. She wanted her friend to have the chance to experience some of the things that his family situation had deprived him of in the past. 

“Fine, Lily, I’ll ask her,” Severus agreed, as he knew from a great deal of past experience that Lily would keep pushing until she got her way. 

“Don’t come if you don’t want to,” commented James. He didn’t want anyone to come out of obligation; that would ruin the fun. 

“It’s not that James, I think it sounds interesting. My mum’s just been ill, and I worry about her alone with my father…”Severus hesitated, not wanting to discuss his father’s behavior, “never mind… I’ll send her an owl tonight and let you know tomorrow.”

“Great!” two more for the party, thought James. Summer was going to be awesome. Then he glanced over at Regulus, whose face often reminded James of his absent brother ‘but I’m going to miss Pads’.

“Obviously, Reg, since your mother has her hate-on for me and my parents right now, I can’t invite you. But, like I’ve told Sirius a million times before, both you and Sirius can think of the Potter estate as your sanctuary if needed.” Sirius’ previous visits to the Potters had only occurred through Charlus Potter and Orion Black’s mediation, since Walburga hated her much older sister Dorea with a passion. Working together in the Wizengamut had given Charlus and Orion enough common ground for civil conversation; despite the fact that they had very different political views they could respect each other’s political acumen and stratagems. Plus, Charlus and Orion’s father Arcturus were old friends, and Orion didn’t want to jeopardize his inheritance by angering his father. 

Of course, now that Orion was clearly letting Walburga control the boys lives to a greater extent, there was no way that such visits would continue.

“Thanks James, I’ll keep that in mind.” 

Regulus was glad to know that like his brother he had a backup plan in place in case things went too far south. He’d always known that Sirius had a fail-safe with James, but thanks to the distance that had grown between the brothers he was unsure of his own standing. Now he could relax a little more, knowing that Sirius’ friends would also protect him. 

“Narcissa, maybe an invite from Mother would work for you? I’d love to have you join us, but I’m afraid you might have problems with your family if the invite is from me.” While Cygnus and Druella Black weren’t as hostile towards the Potter family as Walburga, they did tend to follow her and Orion’s lead since their status in the Black family was subordinate to Orion’s. 

“Let me talk to Mother. She might be able to convince Father if I say I’m going to consult with Aunt Dorea about Herbology in preparation for my N.E.W.T. classes. They know about my goals for the future, and are tentatively approving; as long as it improves the family’s standing and doesn’t interfere with my betrothal prospects. I’m the only one of my sisters without an outstanding contract at this point.” 

Narcissa was the middle child of three Slytherin siblings; her younger sister Bellatrix was a 3rd year while her older sister Andromeda was a 7th year.

“But Bellatrix’s younger than you, how did that happen?” James asked, confused. He knew that betrothals were common among the pureblood Wizarding nobility, the only way he’d avoided one himself was due to much negotiation with his parents. However, Wizarding families tended to be very traditional about not having younger siblings married before their elders. 

“When Rudolphus Lestrange visited last year to arrange a betrothal contract he preferred her over me.” Narcissa shuddered, there was something in his eyes that had creeped her out, and she was glad to have avoided ending up with him. She knew that Bellatrix would struggle as Rudolphus’ consort, but couldn’t help her relief at not being the sacrificial lamb. “Fortunately, Rabastan’s interests lie in the other direction or my parents might have betrothed us both. I think he’s courting Barty Crouch, who’s a 4th year Ravenclaw. I admit I’m a little worried about Bella, but my parents are determined to ‘improve the standing of the family’.”

“Before that I had a contract with the Delacour’s on the continent, but their son ended up mating with a half-Veela at Beauxbatons last year, hence the new negotiations with the Lestranges’.”

“How about Andromeda?” James had always admired the oldest Black sister, who had been subtly rebelling against pureblood traditions since before she got to Hogwarts.

“Andy’s betrothed to Lucius Malfoy. Their wedding is scheduled for the last week in August, right before the rest of us head back to school. They’ve been betrothed almost since she started Hogwarts.” Lucius Malfoy had been head boy and graduated only a couple of years ago. The consummate Slytherin, he was already working with his father in the Wizengamut and building a name for himself in Wizarding politics. Lucius and Andromeda had been seen as Slytherin royalty by many of the Hogwarts students; but were never closer than allies during their joint tenure. 

“But isn’t she dating that Muggleborn, Ted Tonks?” Remus asked.

Since her 6th year, Andromeda had decided to play the dating field. She’d gone out with boys from every house and even a couple of girls before settling on Ted. Her pureblood airs and Slytherin cunning had seemed an odd match for his steady confidence, but the two had been going strong for almost the whole year.

“Yeah, but my parents don’t know that. My sister isn’t in Slytherin for nothing. She’s got everyone who might tell on her under her thumb, either via favors or via blackmail. It helps that Ted is so well liked among the younger students and the Hufflepuffs seem to think it so romantic that one of their own has won the heart of the Slytherin Queen.”

Still, marriage in pureblood society was based on alliances, not love; and the Blacks and Malfoys were planning Andromeda and Lucius’ wedding regardless of romantic attachments. 

\---

The next night was the last full moon before the end of the school year. Regulus wasn’t able to make it since he had an exam the next morning, but everyone else was there to support Remus. The difference in Moony’s behavior from the previous month was startling to see. While it still wasn’t safe for the others to leave the Warded room, Moony spent the night restlessly pacing rather than charging around the hut and hurting himself. He calmed down considerably after being fed a couple of slabs of raw meat. 

The entire group ended up napping in the shack for most of the night, and Narcissa barely had to use any of the salves and potions that she had brought. Remus was only left with a few small scrapes when he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that thanks to Pottermore we know that Charlus Potter and Dorea Black Potter aren't James' parents in canon. However, the story worked better with James' mother being a Black. Also, I had to shift Andromeda/Ted's age down a bit to make an important plot point work.


End file.
